Free Republic

The venue was different -- the grand hall of the UN General Assembly -- but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's message was the same as it has been for months. Fresh from his performance as a human pinata at Columbia University, the Iranian president took the opportunity this week to remind the nations of the world just how much contempt he and his country held for the UN Security Council. In sum, a lot. After two sets of sanctions, and many more deadlines for Iran to suspend its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad dared the nations of the world to stop Iran's nuclear...

THA’ALBA — Iraqi and Coalition forces captured six enemy targets during the early morning hours of Sept. 25 in Tha’Alba, during Operation “Viking Squeeze II.” U.S. Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., and Soldiers from the Iraqi 5th Special Troops Company detained 10 individuals – six of which are suspected of facilitating and executing attacks against innocent civilians, Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition forces. Two of the detainees are members of a kill squad, one of whom is suspected of participating in a minimum of...

1. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (pronounced mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAD) was born Oct. 28, 1956, three years after the CIA-sponsored coup that installed the pro-Western leader Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as Iran's leader. A Shiite Muslim, he and his wife, a professor, have two sons and a daughter. 2. When he was an infant, Ahmadinejad's family moved from the village of Aradan to Tehran. It was at this point that the family changed its name from Saborjhian, which translates to "thread painter" (the lowliest job in Iran's traditional carpet-weaving industry), to the more religious Ahmadinejad ("race of Muhammad" or "virtuous race"). 3. Ahmadinejad is...

The moment Iran has the capability to create nuclear weapons, the world will change. The moment Iran creates nuclear weapons life will not be the same, like it was on September 12, 2001. Those that choose to believe that a nuclear Iran can be handled (an msm-loved and revered retired general, along with a lot of people), the greater threat to the world is George Bush or any other opinion that avoids possible recognition of the administrations side of the debate; please don't be surprised when much of it comes to fruition, you just weren't listening. From Family Security Matters:...

The invitation was on creamy stationery with fancy calligraphy: The Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran "requests the pleasure" of my company to dine with H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dinner is at the Intercontinental Hotel — with names carefully written out at all the place settings around a rectangular table. There are about 50 of us, academics and journalists mostly. There's Brian Williams across the room, and Christiane Amanpour a few seats down. And at a little after 8pm, on a day when he has already addressed the U.N., the evening after his confrontation at Columbia, a...

COLUMBIA University Presi dent Lee Bollinger yester day made some cutting crit icisms while introducing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - but that doesn't make the school's decision to offer a platform to the head of a violent terrorist state any less abject, squalid or shameless. "Abject, squalid, shameless" is how Winston Churchill described the resolution passed by Oxford University's prestigious Debating Union in 1933 - the year Adolf Hitler came to power - that "this House will under no circumstances fight for King and Country." And Columbia's event, like the 1933 Oxford resolution, sent (to quote Churchill again) a "very...

Despite the controversy that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York City has triggered, Senator Barack Obama still vows to meet with rogue leaders if he is elected, reports CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic. “Nothing has changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries,” Obama told reporters at a press conference after receiving an endorsement from the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. Obama said he would not have invited Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia University, but he believes in academic freedom. “They have the right to...

Mr. Chairmen, Ranking Members, Members of the Committees, thank you for the opportunity to provide my assessment of the security situation in Iraq and to discuss the recommendations I recently provided to my chain of command for the way forward. At the outset, I would like to note that this is my testimony. Although I have briefed my assessment and recommendations to my chain of command, I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress. As a bottom line up front, the military objectives of the...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2007 – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr’s recent call for a halt to all militia violence in Iraq is a “welcome development,” a Multinational Force Iraq official said during a briefing in Baghdad today. “The Multinational Force Iraq joins the government of Iraq in welcoming Sadr’s publicly articulated commitment to peace,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark I. Fox, communications division chief for Multinational Force Iraq. “If implemented, Sadr’s order holds the prospect of allowing Iraqi security and coalition forces to intensify their focus on al Qaeda in Iraq and protecting the Iraqi population.” A disruption in...

Bush to say Iraq is front line against Iran, Al-Qaeda BELLEVUE, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Tuesday will describe Iraq as the front-line against Shiite extremism championed by Iran and the Sunni extremism of Al-Qaeda, an aide said Monday. Bush was due to level the charge in a speech to the American Legion veterans group, the second of two presidential addresses meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq ahead of a critical September 15 progress report. "The president will talk about Sunni extremism and Shia extremism. Neither represents Islam. They represent a brutal...

The Iraqi prime minister and president announced a new alliance of moderate Shiites and Kurds in a push to save the crumbing government Thursday, saying a key Sunni bloc refused to join but the door remained open to them. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the agreement was the first step to unblock political stagnation that has gripped his Shiite-led government since it first took power in May 2006. But the announcement after three days of intense negotiations was disappointing because it did not include Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and his moderate Iraqi Islamic Party. Al-Maliki has been criticized...

BAGHDAD - A Muslim imam dropped his cloak to the sidewalk. It was a signal for the gunmen to move. They surrounded the top Iraqi security official in a north Baghdad district. Iraqi military vehicles — commandeered by other Shiite militiamen — screeched into a cordon, blocking his exit. A gun was put to his head. Brig. Gen. Falah Hassan Kanbar, a fellow Shiite, managed to escape when his bodyguards pulled him into a vehicle that sped down an alley. Details of the Aug. 5 ambush emerged this week in interviews with Kanbar, U.S. military and intelligence officials. It remains...

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed at least eight people in a northern Kurdish area Friday, but Baghdad remained largely calm with a driving ban still in effect and thousands of Shiite pilgrims headed home. U.S. military officials praised the performance of Iraqi security forces during the pilgrimage Thursday, which saw hundreds of thousands of Shiites march to a northern Baghdad shrine, undisturbed by any major violence. The driving ban and curfew imposed on Baghdad for three days was to lift at dawn Saturday. "They have done an absolutely amazing job," said Col. John Castles, commander of the 2nd Brigade...

Pilgrims flock to the Kadhimiya mosque to commemorate a Shiite saint Thursday in Baghdad. Photo by Spc. Jeffrey Hunnewell, Combined Press Information Center. BAGHDAD — Crowds of Shiite pilgrims gathered in Baghdad Thursday to commemorate the death of an eighth century saint. The Kadhimiya mosque is the site of an annual pilgrimage where Shiites not only honor the saint buried within, but seek healing and invoke the saint’s intercession for the forgiveness of sins and the fulfillment of needs.The seventh of 12 principal Shiite saints, Imam Moussa al-Kadhim was known for his patience and his ability to suppress his anger. ...

American jets and helicopters bombed Baghdad's largest Shiite slum on Wednesday, in a deadly strike targeting Iranian-backed militia, as thousands of pilgrims thronged the streets of the city. The US military said 30 "terrorists" were killed in the overnight strike on Sadr City, but families complained that women and children were among the dead, and angry mourners gathered to bury simple wooden caskets. Helicopters and war planes were called in as Iraqi and US ground troops arrested 12 members of a cell that American commanders believe brought weapons and explosives from Iran, and sent militants to Iran for training. "During...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will go to Iran today where he will hold talks on August 8 with Iranian officials on economic and political cooperation. The two countries have greatly expanded bilateral relations following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. RFE/RL Iraq analyst Kathleen Ridolfo discusses what al-Maliki hopes to achieve. RFE/RL: What is the purpose of al-Maliki's visit to Iran? Kathleen Ridolfo: This is al-Maliki's second visit to Iran since he took office and it comes within the context of bettering political relations and economic relations and -- of course more importantly -- securing relations between Iran and...

As Iraqis queue miserably for food and water, or swelter in homes and hospitals without electricity, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's coalition government is collapsing around him. The latest boycott -- by four ministers from a non-sectarian party -- brought to 17 the number of members of the Shiite-led coalition to have walked out, tendered their resignations or withdrawn from cabinet meetings. Hopes that the so-called national unity coalition can be saved now depend on the senior leadership of the rival parties cutting a new power-sharing deal that can convince the bitter Sunni minority to return to the fold. But Maliki...

HISTORY - Time line [some] Important dates in radical ISLAM VS WORLD 1263 - 1328 The 'Godfather of Islamic Fundamentalism' Who is the True Godfather of Islamic Fundamentalism? His name is Ibn Taymiyyah, or Taq ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, and he lived from 1263 to 1328. His name by birth was Ahmad ibn Abdul-Halim ibn Abdas-Salaam. This individual could be considered as the real godfather of fundamentalism. Maududi borrowed extensively from Taymiyyah's writings. http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/index.php? id=1194248__________________1347 [The Bahmani sultans & genocide on Indians]The Muslim conquests, down to the 16th century, were for the Hindus a pure struggle of life and death....

"These people need to be investigated," ... "They are training for war, either for war here in this country or against our troops. Who in the h--- is allowing this stuff to happen right here in our own backyard, and why?" - Concerned neighbor near the compound From WorldNetDaily via Jawa Report comes this very disturbing, but not surprising (knowledge of the Islamists' strategy is old news), report of terror groups using Islamic schools in the U.S. as a front for their recruitment and training activities. (...) The Pakistani terrorist group Jamaat ul Fuqra is using Islamic schools in the...

Likely 2008 Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson took a shot at President Bush's handling of the Iraq war in an interview with a British paper. "Any hints of anarchy should have been controlled at all costs on the very front end and the borders should have been better secured at all costs," Thompson told The Times of London. But he favors giving the "surge" of troop reinforcements more time to settle the situation there, he said. Thompson also strongly hinted that he's ready to run for the White House, boasting, "This ain't my first rodeo." He's campaigned for plenty of...